Acer

Acer is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae. There are approximately 132 species, most of which are native to East Asia, with a number also appearing in Europe, northern Africa, and North America. Only one species, Acer laurinum, extends to the Southern Hemisphere. The type species of the genus is the sycamore maple Acer pseudoplatanus, one of the most common maple species in Europe. Most maples have easily identifiable palmate leaves and all share distinctive winged fruits. The closest relative of the maples is the small east Asian genus Dipteronia, followed by the more widespread genus Aesculus. Maple syrup is made from the sap of some maple species. It is one of the most common genera of trees in Asia. Many maple species are grown in gardens where they are valued for their autumn colour and often decorative foliage, some also for their attractive flowers, fruit, or bark.

Acer

Willow · CC BY-SA 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
maplePBDB
Sits inside
SapindaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Angiospermae

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 413 occurrencesPaleocene — about 13 of 413 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 53 of 413 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 87 of 413 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 184 of 413 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 40 of 413 occurrencesPleistocene — about 34 of 413 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 9 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 7 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 7 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 8 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 7 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 4 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 3 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 3 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 4 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 5 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 8 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 23 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 23 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 21 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 10 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 9 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 10 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 19 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 19 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 26 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 42 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 24 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 25 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 27 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 34 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 32 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

413 occurrences of Acer on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

413 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

70 formations

John Day — 44.64°N, 120.30°WJohn Day — 45.00°N, 120.20°WJohn Day — 44.95°N, 120.33°WJohn Day — 44.14°N, 120.27°WJohn Day — 44.15°N, 120.31°WJohn Day — 44.57°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 44.30°N, 120.83°WJohn Day — 44.16°N, 120.46°WJohn Day — 44.94°N, 120.40°WItahana — 36.25°N, 139.00°EItahana — 36.50°N, 139.00°EItahana — 36.32°N, 138.85°EKlondike Mountain — 48.65°N, 118.73°WYagii — 36.08°N, 139.17°EMiddlegate — 39.25°N, 117.88°WShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EAllenby — 49.45°N, 120.57°WAllenby — 49.22°N, 119.96°WAllenby — 49.47°N, 120.48°WMotojuku — 36.25°N, 138.75°EOgawa — 36.42°N, 138.08°EFort Union — 45.00°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.00°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 45.15°N, 105.68°WPyramid — 39.90°N, 119.55°WBeaverdam — 42.24°N, 114.08°WSalmon City — 45.18°N, 113.88°WBuffalo Canyon — 39.20°N, 117.78°WChloropagus — 39.58°N, 119.37°WChloropagus — 39.58°N, 119.35°WChausuyama — 36.58°N, 138.17°ESeto Porcelain Clay — 35.00°N, 137.00°ERenova — 45.20°N, 112.16°WRenova — 45.50°N, 112.50°WGreen River — 39.78°N, 107.87°WGreen River — 41.10°N, 109.30°WFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.25°WXiaolongtan — 23.81°N, 103.20°EXiaolongtan — 25.42°N, 102.85°EGolden Valley — 46.88°N, 102.78°WGolden Valley — 46.92°N, 102.58°WGolden Valley — 46.97°N, 102.67°WVenta del Moro-Villatoya — 39.48°N, 1.35°WAkeyo — 35.36°N, 137.18°E

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The named rock units Acer has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 46 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 163 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Acer and its relatives

Miocene

Where Acer and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,689 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 160 sites for Acer, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

81 references

Each of the 413 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 69 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Acer

Credit
Willow
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Acer campestre · rng:P0042294

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itSapindaceae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1753